Sean O’Malley targets December return after UFC 316 title fight loss: ‘It would make sense for me’
Off the back of his second consecutive loss to Merab Dvalishvili, former bantamweight champion, Sean O’Malley has confirmed his plan to fight once more before the end of the year — ideally in December.
O’Malley, who headlined UFC 316 over the course of the weekend, suffered a one-sided third round submission loss against Georgian fan-favorite, Dvalishvili.
Dropping a north-south submission choke to the dominant champion over the course of last weekend, suffered his second consecutive title fight defeat, following a prior decision loss to Dvalishvili at Noche UFC in September of last year.
Remaining candid in his defeat to the incumbent gold holder, Montana striker, O’Malley described Dvalishvili as a “motherf*cker” who was simply once more better than him come fight night in New Jersey.
Sean O’Malley targets end-of-year return
“I didn’t feel like it was going to go like that,” Sean O’Malley told Joe Rogan during his post-fight Octagon interview. Unfortunately, it is. Merab’s (Dvalishvili) a motherf*cker. Yeah, I just want to stick around and thank everybody that came out and supported us.”
But this week, days after his loss, O’Malley — who has been linked with a potential return clash opposite former title challenger, Umar Nurmagomedov, as well as a rematch with ex-champion, Petr Yan next.
“The division’s [bantamweight] gonna play out over the next few months,” Sean O’Malley said on his podcast this week. “We’ll see where it goes. December seems like it would make sense for me to get back in there.”
Likely linked the heaviest with a second fight with Dudinka striker, Yan — the former interim and undisputed bantamweight kingpin mocked O’Malley after his defeat to common-foe, Dvalishvili, as well as expressing his willingness to face-off with him next.
This is what happens when you’re handed things you didn’t earn,” Petr Yan posted on his official X account. “Back in line, buddy @SugaSeanMMA.”
